Quincy Acy has decided to turn down his minimum-salary player option for next season and hit free agency this summer, as USA Today’s Sam Amick hears (Twitter link). The Kings want to keep him around for on-court reasons as well as his locker room presence, according to James Ham of CSN California, who wrote earlier that the power forward would love to stay in Sacramento, so it appears the grounds for a new deal are in place. Still, the Mike Silverman client seems headed for the open market.
Acy, who’ll turn 26 in October, averaged 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game this past season, his second tenure with the Kings, who had him for most of the 2013/14 season. He spent a year with the Knicks in between his stints with Sacramento, and he put up the best numbers of his career in 2014/15 with New York, averaging 5.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 18.9 minutes. The Kings moved him in and out of the starting lineup this season, but he still wound up making 29 starts, his most ever.
Sacramento signed Acy this past summer to a two-year minimum-salary deal. The contract doesn’t require a formal decision on the player option until June 1st, so Acy still has time to change his mind and pick up the $1,050,961 option. That leeway doesn’t exist for teammates James Anderson and Seth Curry, who have to decide on their player options by today and Saturday, respectively. Caron Butler can wait until June 22nd.
The Kings have about $61.3MM in guaranteed salary for next season, not counting any of the player options. They’ll have enough flexibility under the projected $92MM cap to chase some max-level free agents, but they seem unlikely to land one, given their lack of appeal.